


man's best mate

by illiterateowl



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Banter, Crack Fic, Dogs, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Pet Parents, dont scream at me in the comments okay? im a stupid american, kind of?, listen, this is my first attempt at a modern setting and im not british SO
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:48:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29357499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/illiterateowl/pseuds/illiterateowl
Summary: Merlin can’t believe his eyes.His shift at the pharmacy should have been a calm end to his day so when he comes home to see his flatmate, Arthur, wrestling with the biggest, fluffiest dog Merlin has ever seen, he decides that maybe he’s going to faint instead of going to sleep like a normal person.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 133





	man's best mate

**Author's Note:**

> main tumblr blog: @owlinadayswork  
> writing tumblr blog: @illiterateowl
> 
> obviously i do not own bbc merlin; I simply create and write stories free for consumption :)

Merlin can’t believe his eyes.

His shift at the pharmacy should have been a calm end to his day so when he comes home to see his flatmate, Arthur, wrestling with the biggest, fluffiest dog Merlin has ever seen, he decides that maybe he’s going to faint instead of going to sleep like a normal person. 

“Arthur!” He screeches upon entry, throwing his keys and coat to the floor in shock. 

The blonde glances up at him, grinning ear to ear, and then the dog pounces on him again and tackles him to the carpet in a cloud of fur. “Merlin!” he wheezes, laughing as the dog licks his face, “Stop! Stop, hang on, let me introduce you!” he says to the dog, who, to Merlin’s amazement, backs up and flops down for belly rubs.

“A dog? Seriously, Arthur?! Were you gonna tell me before you just brought him home?”

“I didn’t plan on it, honest,” Arthur says, scratching the dog so it flings a back foot around with a dopey smile. “His name is Aithusa, by the way.”

Merlin takes a second to look the dog over. It’s _giant._ His ears flop at the corners and he has a wide, square muzzle set in a square head, made nearly round by thick fur. The rest of his body is covered in a lush, wooly coat that fades into tan around his feet and tail. He must be something like a Great Pyrenese mixed with a Samoyed or maybe even a Great Dane, and he doesn’t look old; maybe no more than two, if Merlin’s animal knowledge is anything to go by. 

And it’s not like Merlin hates dogs. In fact, he thinks he’ll fall quickly in love with Aithusa. But it’s the fact that Arthur brought a _whole dog_ home without his permission that makes him want to smack the beautiful man across the face. 

“Three reasons why I shouldn’t take him to the shelter right now. Go.” 

Arthur’s eyes widen and he digs a hand into Aithusa’s fur. 

“I love him?”

Merlin glares at him, feeling a little surge of jealousy bubble up. He has no claim to Arthur’s heart, but it wasn’t a wonderful feeling for Arthur’s attention to be stolen by a dog.

“And?”

Arthur thinks a second. “I already bought him food.”

“And?” 

“And he’s a rescue and they were going to euthanize him today if they didn’t at least find a foster for him.”

Merlin feels the fight leave him. “What?”

“He’s been there for over a year and every time he’s been adopted, he’s been returned.”

“Do you know why?”

Arthur shrugs, running a hand over Aithusa’s face and grinning when the dog moves his head so that Arthur’s hand slips into his mouth. When he pulls it away, it’s dripping in slobber. “They always said he had too much energy. No one wanted to deal with him.”

Merlin feels his eyebrow rising of its own accord. “And you think you can?”

At that, Arthur simply smirks at him, stands up, and turns to the dog who positively beams at him. Merlin has to admit, the bond they already share is very adorable. 

“Aithusa, spin!”

And just like that, Aithusa flings his fluffy body around in a circle, and Merlin gawks when Arthur then commands the dog to lie down and rollover. 

“How on earth did you teach him all those tricks in one day?!” Merlin squeaks, genuinely impressed and altogether very surprised. He’d known Arthur for five years, fallen in love with him the minute they met and knew him better than he knew any other person in the world, including himself. So how did he not know Arthur could train dogs?!

“My dad and I used to train hunting dogs for sport,” Arthur explains, “And Aithusa’s really smart.” 

Somehow, the dog seems to understand the praise and his tongue lolls out of his mouth. 

Merlin presses a hand to his forehead, overwhelmed and out of his depth. “Fine. You can keep him. But you’re walking him, and if he ruins my stuff, you’re replacing it.”

Arthur jumps up and tugs Merlin into a hug and Merlin nearly falls over from how unexpected it is. Not to mention Arthur was _hugging_ him, which is something Merlin could count on one hand all the times it’s happened before. He squeezes him back as Arthur murmurs into his neck, “Thank you. You won’t regret it.”

~

Merlin does regret it.

A week later he comes home and the rubbish is upended all over the floor with a very sorry Aithusa sitting in the middle of it. Merlin simply throws his hands in the air, puts the dog in his kennel, and leaves the mess for Arthur to take care of. 

The week after, the weather is getting warmer so the three of them go for a walk. Merlin is just relishing the rare times that Arthur’s hand brushes against his own when Aithusa suddenly yanks Arthur forward. He bumps into Merlin who goes flying into a mud puddle and ends up sulking home on his own to wash up while Arthur finishes the walk at a run. 

But the days Aithusa isn’t being a menace, Merlin can safely say he has come to love the dog: and he especially loves him because he makes Arthur happy. 

Arthur’s job as an accountant can get stressful so oftentimes he comes home, sticks a harness on Aithusa, and the two go for a run. They come back, Arthur sweaty and smelling godawful, but he and the dog are both smiling and it makes something twinge in Merlin’s chest to see Arthur just enjoying life. 

They’re snuggled on the couch watching _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone_ one day when Arthur slides an arm around Merlin and pulls him into his side. Flustered out of his mind, Merlin tentatively leans into him, settling a hand into Aithusa’s fur to ground himself.

“Thank you,” Arthur says quietly over Professor Quirrel screaming as he runs into the Great Hall. 

“For what?” 

“For letting me keep him.” Merlin doesn’t need to ask to know who “him” is. “I know it’s been rough adjusting, but he’s learning quickly. I’m even thinking about getting him certified as a visiting therapy dog once he mellows out.” 

Merlin can’t help the smile that spreads over his face. “I think he’d love that. He’s really a very sweet dog.”

“He’d be great with kids.”

Merlin snorts. “That’s funny, considering he’s basically your child.”

Arthur turns to look at him and frowns, but Merlin is too distracted by the warm breath ghosting over his face to wonder why. 

“ _Our_ child,” Arthur says, and it takes Merlin a minute to realize he’s still talking about Aithusa.

“ _Ours_?” Merlin echoes in surprise.

“Well–” In the dim light, Merlin can see Arthur’s face is turning red as he brings a hand up to scratch his neck, “I-I just thought, you know, he lives with both of us, so we’re, um, kind of his dads?”

“His dads?” Merlin squeaks, feeling distinctly like a parrot.

Arthur lets out a huff of breath. “You know, forget it; it was stupid.”

They watch the golden trio defeat the troll in awkward silence. Merlin can hear his heart beating and if he strains over its obnoxious thumping, he thinks he can hear Arthur's, too. Slowly, and as casually as possible, he leans his head down so that it settles on the front of Arthur’s left shoulder instead of on top of it, and there he can feel the rapidly increasing _thump thump_ of the man’s heartbeat. 

Merlin wets his lips, opens his mouth, and then snaps his jaw shut so hard his teeth clack together. 

Arthur’s arm tightens a little around Merlin as he glances down. “You ‘right?”

“Thinking,” Merlin says offhandedly.

“That’s no good,” Arthur says back at once.

Merlin nearly chomps on his tongue, he’s trying so hard not to just spit out the inner workings of the single brain cell that rolls around in his skull. Finally, deciding he may as well ask before he spontaneously combusts, he says, “If we’re Aithusa’s dads, does that make us husbands?” 

Arthur’s thumb has been smoothing gentle little circles into Merlin’s shirt, but now his hand squeezes so tightly around his bicep that Merlin wheezes just a little bit until Arthur lets up. He hears the sound of lips smacking above him and then Arthur stutters, “I...I suppose? But, not necessarily, I mean–” 

He cuts himself off then and his heart starts to beat faster under Merlin’s cheek. 

Merlin’s own heart is past normal beating and has taken up ballet while he’s been running through all the different ways this could go terribly wrong and also terribly right. 

“Maybe we don’t have to be husbands? Just boyfriends?”

Oh. As far as Merlin is aware, the brain cell did not approve that. 

Arthur swallows loudly, right above Merlin's ear so it sends a tingle down his spine. 

Silence.

Snape’s robe is on fire. 

Then, “Um, Merlin?”

Merlin does his very best not to evaporate on the spot. “Arthur?”

“Did you just ask me out?” 

Oh.

Oh _no_.

There are two ways this could go. Merlin could laugh it off and then Arthur laughs it off and they’re both laughing while Merlin cries on the inside. Or, he admits that yes – maybe – yes, his one single freaking brain cell wanted to ask Arthur out because he decided to take Arthur’s joke a little too seriously. 

And he can’t even look Arthur in the face to figure out his response because his cheek is glued to where he can practically feel the man’s heart doing the macarena. 

It’s nearing thirty full seconds later when Merlin chokes out, “Yes?” 

There’s a sharp inhale of breath and then a quiet, “Are you serious?” 

“Yes?”

And then Arthur is laughing. Practically sobbing with laughter, so hard that he bounces Merlin’s head right off his chest and into his lap, and when Merlin twists around in mortification, he’s looking directly up at Arthur’s jawline. 

“Oh my God,” Arthur breathes as he coughs up the last of his amusement, “I cannot believe it took me saying we were dog dads for you to ask me out.” He then looks down at Merlin with the biggest smile he’s ever seen. “You are such an idiot.”

Merlin practically grapples with Arthur’s sweater as he hauls himself up in disbelief, gaping like a fish. “You wanted me to ask you out!? What the–”

Arthur apparently doesn't want to explain himself because he grabs Merlin by the neck and all but smashes their faces together in the clumsiest kiss Merlin’s ever had. The angle is awkward so he remedies that by climbing into Arthur’s lap. They eagerly lean into each other as the kiss becomes more natural, softer, gentle, and affectionate, interspersed with caresses and quiet noises. It’s strange how natural it feels to be kissing Arthur as if maybe they’ve been made for each other this whole time and just been too dumb to see it. 

They're both breathing a little heavy afterward, staring into each other’s eyes, when all of a sudden a great ball of cloud throws itself between them. Merlin is pushed straight off of Arthur’s lap and lands hard on his backside, wincing and cursing Aithusa. Arthur is doing his best to fend off the dog’s worried attention as he clambers over the man’s lap. 

“Aithusa! I’m fine, we were kissing!”

Merlin hoists himself up onto the couch beside Arthur and finds himself smirking as Arthur is assaulted with dog kisses instead of his own. “I think he’s jealous.”

“Idiot,” Arthur says, with feeling, but whether it’s to Merlin or Aithusa, he doesn’t know. “I’m putting him in his kennel.” 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Merlin grabs for Arthur’s wrist, “he can stay.” 

Arthur glances between the two of them and then says with a pout, “I wanted to kiss you without him getting in the way.”

Merlin grins so wide his cheeks hurt and he leans forward to peck Arthur’s lips again. “You clotpole, we’ve waited five years; we can wait a little longer.”

“Five years too long,” Arthur growls, before leaning in to seal his lips with Merlin’s, Aithusa squashed happily between them.

**Author's Note:**

> to all of you waiting on sequel to "King of My Heart": it's in progress! I've also decided that I'll need four chapters to fully accomplish everything I want to in a generally reasonable time frame story-wise so it's not rushed. Every once in a while I open the doc and tack on like three sentences after I've reread the fluff at the beginning. i think you guys will love what I've got planned :)


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